Interpretive Summary: American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is one of the most commonly used herbal medicines in the world. Discriminating between P. quinquefolius grown in different countries is very difficult and has not been reported. In this study, a new metabolomic and statistical analysis method was developed to discriminate between American ginseng grown in the U.S. and China. Fifteen American ginseng samples grown in Wisconsin and 25 samples grown in China were used. First, the fingerprints of the ginseng samples were obtained using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method. The chromatographic fingerprints, representing the chemical composition of the samples, were then processed to distinguish samples from the two locations. It is the first time that a method was reported to distinguish American Ginseng grown in the U.S. from American ginseng grown in China.

Technical Abstract:
American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is one of the most commonly used herbal medicines in the world. Discriminating between P. quinquefolius grown in different countries is difficult using the traditional quantitation methods. In this study, a liquid chromatographic mass spectrometry (LC-MS) fingerprint and a chemometric method combined with chemometric analysis was established to discriminate between American ginseng grown in the U.S. and China. Fifteen American ginseng samples grown in Wisconsin and 25 samples grown in China were used. The chromatographic fingerprints, representing the chemical compositions of the samples made it possible to distinguish samples from the two locations. In addition, it was found that the content of some ginsenosides varied widely from the P. quinquefolius cultivated in these two different countries. P. quinquefolius grown in the U.S. is higher in ginsenoside-Rc, ginsenoside-Rd, quinquinoside III/pseudo-ginsenoside-Rc1, malonyl-Rb1, and malonyl-Rb2, but lower in ginsenoside-Rb1 compared with P. quinquefolius grown in China. These ginsenosides may be responsible for the class separation seen using fingerprint and chemometric approaches.